Thai Airways Objects To Steamy Thai Soap Opera About Flight Attendants

[Jai Dee]

Thai Airways objects to steamy Thai soap opera about flight attendants

A popular new Thai soap opera about love and infidelity in the high skies has angered Thai Airways flight attendants who demanded Monday that the show be canceled for casting their profession in an unrealistic and immoral light.

"The Air Hostess War," which broadcast its first three episodes last week, has captivated viewers with a story line about a dashing married pilot having an affair with one of his tall, slim flight attendants. There are love triangles that lead to fighting in the aisles and steamy sex scenes at stopover cities.

The Thai Airways International union issued a letter Monday urging the Culture Ministry to order the show to be pulled from the air.

"This soap opera is insulting and damaging to the reputation of flight attendants," said Noppadol Thaungthong, a Thai Airways flight attendant leading the union's action. "It's all about sex and air hostesses beating each other up in the cabin because of love and jealousy. This kind of thing never happens."

The letter says that young Thais aspiring to become flight attendants might be turned off from the profession after seeing the show.

"We are demanding that the station and the producers immediately stop airing this ugly soap opera," Noppadol said.

A Culture Ministry spokesman said officials could not comment until seeing the letter, which was to be formally delivered by flight attendants later in the day.

Thailand's Channel 5, which broadcasts the show, says it has no plan to pull the soap opera but will consider suggesting that scenes found to be offensive be edited out, said spokeswoman Thawinan Kongkran.

"The producer says the soap opera reflects all sides of the profession," Thawinan said. "If some scenes are inappropriate, as the labor union says, we will ask the producer to change that."

Source: AP - 21 January 2008

[Jai Dee]

Flight attendants rebel against racy show

Thai flight attendants are trying to get a local TV show pulled off the air because of the "demeaning" way it portrays their profession, the Bangkok Post reported today.

The high-flying soap - The Air Hostess War - apparently provoked uproar in the industry after it opened with a three-day run last week.

The show features heated flirtations and petty revenge among the attractive cabin crew, complained the Thai Airways International labour union.

The show's opening scenes of vicious squabbling between flight attendants over a handsome pilot was humiliating and demeaning, said Somsak Srinual, acting president of the union.

Culture minister Khunying Khaisri Sri-aroon would be asked to help pull the program off the air.

Representations would also be made to the Channel 5 television station and the chiefs of Thai Airways and the air force, Somsak said.

The layout of the cabin in the TV series clearly represented the inside of a Thai Airways plane, therefore the producers could not argue that it was a mere fictional airline, the union leader said.

The series could deter young people from entering the industry if they believed the lifestyle was so racy and emotionally draining, he added.

Source: DPA - 21 January 2008

[Rajah]

The layout of the cabin in the TV series clearly represented the inside of a Thai Airways plane, therefore the producers could not argue that it was a mere fictional airline, the union leader said.

Good God. I think the country has more serious problems now...

They could send the footage to ILM and they will create a new special effects back ground.

Edited January 21, 2008 by Rajah

[007]

The series could deter young people from entering the industry if they believed the lifestyle was so racy and emotionally draining, he added.

Or encourage them?

Maybe less female applicants, but many more male (=> pilot) and katoy (=> stewardess, purser) applicants..

Edited January 21, 2008 by 7

[toptuan]

The letter says that young Thais aspiring to become flight attendants might be turned off from the profession after seeing the show.

Rumor has it that the airline personnel offices in Thailand have been flooded with employment applications since the series opened. Life wants to imitate art, apparently.

[TAWP]

So what they are saying is that people are too stupid to understand that it's poorly thought out fiction...

...could we have a news-report that asks them that in those words and see what the reaction is?

Not that I disagree...

[grantbkk]

The series could deter young people from entering the industry if they believed the lifestyle was so racy and emotionally draining, he added.

Or encourage them?

Maybe less female applicants, but many more male (=> pilot) and katoy (=> stewardess, purser) applicants..

That is the cruelest thing if ever heard. All flight attendants should be young, slim and female. Does the show have an English simulcast?

[Jai Dee]

Air hostesses in a lather over a new soap opera

Cabin crew, prepare for a protest. Flight attendants are upset over the way their profession is portrayed in a new TV soap opera, Songkhram Nang Fah (The Air Hostess War), and will today make their feelings public.

Cabin crew led by the Thai Airways International labour union will petition Culture Minister Khunying Khaisri Sri-aroon to get the drama pulled off the air.

Acting union president Somsak Srinual said the Channel 5 show, in which female flight attendants battle to win the heart of a pilot, is humiliating and hurts their image.

More from the Bangkok Post here.

[sriracha john]

Thai Airways objects to steamy Thai soap opera about flight attendants

for casting their profession in an unrealistic and immoral light.

If that's the criteria for cancelling a Thai soap opera, there practically wouldn't be a single episode of any soap opera shown as there hasn't been a single profession that has been spared from these story lines over the years. How many of these shows have depicted doctors, lawyers, business people, farmers, police personnel, military personnel, shop owners, teachers, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc...... in the exact, same light?

What's so d@mn special about stewardesses that make them feel they are unique to all other professions and should be spared the soap opera version of their profession?

[kmart]

So, I suppose a bj in the toilets at altitude:1 mile is out of the question, then?

[dekka007]

Don't know what they are complaining about...seems pretty true to life to me..sex, screaming, affairs, violence. Typical day of a flight attendant.

[A_Traveller]

Not just Thailand though, didn't the American flight attendants union complain about the movie Flightplan with Jodie Foster, on the basis that some/one were the 'bad guys'?

Regards

PS Missed the movie so running on memory for this

/edit /one //

Edited January 21, 2008 by A_Traveller

[BigSnake]

I watched with the wife, she loved it, I think it was a good show/great soap.

[sylviex]

Never heard it called a profession before !

The letter says that young Thais aspiring to become flight attendants might be turned off from the profession after seeing the show

Seems unlikely, but at least Thai Uni students might then begin to consider other options.

[Tony Clifton]

What if the soap had been made by and aired in a neighbouring country? The flight attendants would have received all the support they want. Since it's Thai made, it's ok, they won't receive any support.

Edited January 21, 2008 by Tony Clifton

[MrSnrang]

I love this country. I love the logic, rationality, and above all the people who make the nation as grand as it is.

[astral]

If the cap fits, wear it.........

It may also encourage people to patronise the airline.....................

[cclub75]

I love this country. I love the logic, rationality, and above all the people who make the nation as grand as it is.

A very good "executive summary".

Thai Airways worries about... wind. Typical.

A way to divert attention from their very special "management" style... Poor results, military "komradship", overstaffed, lunatic unions, and very serious problems ahead (they just can't buy new airplanes, they are going to lease some when competitors are buying like crazy)...

[thaigene2]

Yeah, well you know why they REALLY don't like it?

It's because they all come from 'respectable' families - many hi-so (or mid-so at least). The last episode had some gay hi-so attendant being belittled by a snobby man-wife couple (passengers) for letting his family down by becoming a flight attendant.

So don't get fooled by this bull-shit about 'questioning the morals of the Thai flight attendants' - it's REALLY about questioning their 'status' within the all important "face" of Thailand's mid and hi-so society. Remember it wasn't that long ago (here anyway) when only 'connected' girls got jobs as flight attendants...but that's changing (like everywhere else finally).

My wife and I were on an Air Asia flight to/from Phuket not so long ago, and one of the attendants was an actress from Thai TV soaps. She bitched at me for bringing food on board.

I was half-pissed and wanted to ask her if she wasn't also moonlighting as "sideline" number 37 at Long Legs Massage, but my wife has a pincer-like set of pinchers..

Edited January 21, 2008 by thaigene2

[bingobongo]

ah yes, many an old farts tray table has miraculously ended up in the upright and locked position without the use of hands....

Edited January 21, 2008 by bingobongo

[thaigene2]

I love this country. I love the logic, rationality, and above all the people who make the nation as grand as it is.

A very good "executive summary".

Thai Airways worries about... wind. Typical.

A way to divert attention from their very special "management" style... Poor results, military "komradship", overstaffed, lunatic unions, and very serious problems ahead (they just can't buy new airplanes, they are going to lease some when competitors are buying like crazy)...

Heaven forbid the Thai Airways cash cow crashes! There would be no contracts for all those 'connected' people to have "a hand in."

Leasing is the only shell-game this company and its cronies can play. I once read a few years back in post or nation, that the parent company owed some jaw-gaping debt of 800 billion baht or something like that - I can't remember the figure now, and the main point is I couldn't find ANY reference to Thai Airways "debt" ever again on the newspaper's Website- all references disappeared. That was just before they were issuing a partial IPO.

Maybe someone in the industry reading this can come up with the correct figure. It was numbing (if correct) and made me wonder how it can keep operating - til "Eureka"! The first paragraph above became much clearer to me!

Thai Airways cannot "buy" aircraft, it can only lease. While this is common among carriers, the Thai murkiness (and Thailand's patronistic society in general) makes it that much more suspicious.

[Jai Dee]

Air hostesses urge 'Battle of Angels' to be reasonable

Culture minister asked to tone down 'revealing' television soap opera

The Thai Airways International Union will ask Channel 5 and Thakonkiat Viravan, an executive of the TV company Exact, to take a more responsible attitude over the new Channel 5 soap opera that portrays hostesses in a negative light.

Exact is expected to hold a press conference on the issue this afternoon.

The union along with flight attendant representatives from other airlines such as Bangkok Airways yesterday lodged a complaint with Culture Minister Khunying Khaisri Sri-aroon. They demanded the "Songkram Nangfah" (Battle of Angels) series, aired at 8.25pm from Monday to Thursday, to be pulled from the air.

Acting union chairman Somsak Srinuan said he was concerned whether people, especially youths, would be able to differentiate which parts were real and which were exaggerations in the programme - which includes violent scenes with female cabin crew fighting in public over a male pilot.

"Exact, which produces this show, must be responsible to society and suspend the airing until the content is adjusted so that it is not so exaggerated," Somsak said.

If Channel 5 and Exact did nothing, the union would take further measures such as asking Thai Airways (THAI) to stop providing financial support to the company and other companies under GMM Grammy Group, Somsak said.

THAI flight attendant manager Phitchitra Thaveerat said she had viewed the first four episodes last week and found they all contained irrational and inappropriate scenes, such as fighting in front of the flight attendant training centre, which would never happen in reality.

She said the hostess uniforms were also too revealing. The uniforms flight attendants wear in real life are tidy and appropriate because they represent their country as well.

"The show, exaggerated to stimulate high ratings, destroys our professional image and dignity. We want the soap opera to be suspended from its current broadcast time and be moved to air after 10pm," she said.

Bangkok Airways representative Preuksa Reunrat said being a flight attendant was a dignified profession. They take care of the safety of passengers and their belongings at every second during a flight, not just serve them food. She did not want the soap opera to devalue the profession.

Channel 5 chief, Lieutenant General Kittithat Bamnetphan, said he had not received a formal compliant from the union and that the station would not be able to scrap the show as the union wanted.

The show had passed the rating committee and obtained the "Nor 13" rating category - restricted for children under 13, he said. It also contained a message to inform the audience that it was based on fiction. There was nothing the station could do with the show until there was clear-cut information of it breaching regulations in some way, he added.

Channel 5 spokeswoman Thawinan Kongkran said there were no plans to pull the soap opera. But it would consider asking the producer to edit out some scenes that were found to be offensive. An Exact PR official said 50 per cent of the drama had been shot, so the other half could be adjusted, including having uniforms with longer skirts.

Thakonkiat and script writer Nipon Phewnen would hold a press conference at 3pm today at the GMM Grammy Building.

One of the show's actresses, Panwad Hemmanee, urged the public to be open-minded. She believed the producer had no intention to tarnish flight attendants.

"We've got no intention to offend, it's a reflection of human reality that is full of love, greed, anger and obsession - be they in any kind of profession," she said, adding there were also many good characters among the flight attendants in the show.

Source: The Nation - 22 January 2008

[taxexile]

Cabin crews protest over Thai massage soap opera

By Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent , The Independent , UK.

Published: 22 January 2008

What with easing the concerns of nervous travellers and dealing with the demands of frequent flyers, one might wonder how airline crews had the time or energy for lust, violence and jealousy at 35,000ft. But fighting in the aisles as the plane climbs to a cruising altitude and steamy sex at stopover cities across Asia is all in a day's work for the racy flight attendants and pilots portrayed in The Air Hostess War, a new Thai soap opera. Watching flight attendants pull back the curtain of the serving galley will now never be the same again.

With just three episodes having been shown the new soap seems to be a hit, with everyone that is except the country's real-life flight attendants. They claim that the show is immoral and demeans and humiliates both them and their profession.

In the sort of free publicity that many television producers would crawl to Bangkok for, Thailand's air crews demanded yesterday that the remaining episodes be cancelled immediately, or else its storylines toned down.

"This soap opera is insulting and damaging to the reputation of flight attendants," said Noppadol Thaungthong, a flight attendant at Thai Airways International, who is leading their union's action. "It's all about sex and air hostesses beating each other up in the cabin because of love and jealousy. This kind of thing never happens."

The union representing the airline's staff says the soap, called Songkram Nangfah in Thai, specifically harms that airline's reputation as viewers will assume the show is based on the behind-the-scenes lives of those working for the national carrier. "People will be afraid to fly with us if they see these scenes with flight attendants slapping each other," Somsak Srinual, the union's president, told a news conference in Bangkok. "Women don't fight. They just argue."

The union said that young Thais who had been intending to train as attendants might be put off the profession after watching the show. It apparently did not consider that the soap might actually result in an increase of applications from people seeking to emulate the passion-fuelled lives of the fictitious flight crew.

In one of the episodes that has created such clamour, a dashing but married pilot has an affair with one of the stewardesses on his flight. "My daughter watched the show and has started to look down on my job," claimed Pichitra Taveerat, a flight attendant. "She asked me 'Is it true that everyone at your job is fighting over guys'. I didn't know what to answer."

The carrier's union, along with that representing the staff of the private carrier Bangkok Airlines, have submitted a formal letter of protest to the Culture Minister, Khaisri Sri-aroon, asking that the television company behind the show, Channel Five, moderate the storylines. A ministry spokesman said officials could not comment until they had seen the letter.

Channel 5 told the Associated Press that it has no plans to cancel the soap opera, which only began broadcasting last week. A spokeswoman, Thawinan Kongkran, said, however, that it would consider cutting scenes that were offensive. "The producer says the soap opera reflects all sides of the profession," she said. "If some scenes are inappropriate, as the labour union says, we will ask the producer to change that."

[britmaveric]

Just the reputation of flight attendents in general. some of my mates who are pilots have told some good stories.

[Jai Dee]

Thai soap opera 'immoral'

Flight attendants have demanded that a popular new Thai soap opera about airlines be cancelled because it portrays them as immoral.

The Air Hostess War has a storyline about a dashing pilot having an affair with one of his tall, slim flight attendants. There are love triangles that lead to fighting in the aisles and steamy sex scenes at stopover cities.

"This soap opera is insulting and damaging to the reputation of flight attendants," said Noppadol Thaungthong who works for Thai Airways. "It's all about sex and air hostesses beating each other up in the cabin because of love and jealousy. This kind of thing never happens."

Source: PA News - 22 January 2008

[terryp]

Thai soaps are all Immoral.. stupid & just plain dumb.

They glamorize the use of alcohol, guns & knifes; plus the mandatory abuse of wives’ and ‘Mia Noi’s”

…total Cr@p for stupid un-educated people..one of the major factors of violent Thai society today

[Dupont]

Thai soaps are all Immoral.. stupid & just plain dumb.

They glamorize the use of alcohol, guns & knifes; plus the mandatory abuse of wives' and 'Mia Noi's"

…total Cr@p for stupid un-educated people..one of the major factors of violent Thai society today

On an upbeat note.

They (soaps) must be encouraging to anybody without an iota of playing ability, to buy that crappy bontempi organ and blat out a one fingered rendering of some crappy old tune.

I love em myself and you do pick up some valuable insights into Thias thinking.

Much better than all that appalling pc crap that BBCEntertainment have taken to polluting the airways with. An endless procession of miserable faced grey people arguing and handwringing their way through their miserable existance.

Who would you rather live amongst?

[britmaveric]

Prob no worse than BBC - Mile High. (show about british FA shenanigans)

[A_Traveller]

Given Thai Airways rep, I think The High Life is a better comparison. Air Scotia rules.

Regards

[Scott]

Some folks may remember a book called "Coffee, Tea or Me?". Since that didn't cause the profession to implode, I doubt that this soap opera will.

I am afraid that perhaps this soap opera is a little too close to the truth, otherwise people wouldn't really see themselves in it. I mean I am a very rich person and I don't get upset about how badly they portray other rich people, because I am nice and they are bad. I seldom beat the maids, there's just too many of them and anyway if they act up I sell them to a pimp. I am kind to my employees, I often help with funeral expenses when they drop dead from overwork and I would provide their children with an education, but I just can't find them now that they have been repatriated to Burma!

I also try to be kind to my children, I make sure they have big, powerful cars so if they drive into a crowd of dumb people, my child won't get hurt!

One of the advantages of being really rich is that I have so much money to spend, I seldom get to watch soap operas. Poor, poor me.